Verse 15. For now I will stretch out my hand] In the Hebrew the verbs are in the past tense, and not in the future, as our translation improperly expresses them, by which means a contradiction appears in the text: for neither Pharaoh nor his people were smitten by a pestilence, nor was he by any kind of mortality cut off from the earth. It is true the first-born were slain by a destroying angel, and Pharaoh himself was drowned in the RedSea; but these judgments do not appear to be referred to in this place.

If the words be translated, as they ought, in the subjunctive mood, or in the past instead of the future, this seeming contradiction to facts, as well as all ambiguity, will be avoided: For if now I HAD STRETCHED OUT ( ythl shalachti, had set forth) my hand, and had smitten thee ( ûtwa ûaw vaach otheca) and thy people with the pestilence, thou SHOULDST HAVE BEEN cut off ( djkt ticcached) from the earth.